FILE - In this May 16, 2012, file photo, L. Rafael Reif addresses a news conference after he was announced as the 17th president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass. President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Reif has ordered an independent investigation after a report about ties between Jeffrey Epstein and a prestigious research lab at the school, he wrote in a letter to the university community Saturday, Sept. 7, 2019. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia, File) Associated Press

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — The president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has acknowledged that he signed a letter thanking disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein for a donation to a professor.

President L. Rafael Reif said in a statement Thursday that he signed what he called "a standard acknowledgment letter" on Aug. 16, 2012, about six weeks into his presidency, although he does not remember doing so.

Reif's revelation came out of an independent investigation launched after an uproar over the MIT Media Lab's close ties to Epstein that led to lab director's resignation.

Reif also said the investigation found that senior members of MIT's administration were aware of gifts the lab received between 2013 and 2017 from Epstein's foundations.

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